While he was never officially cast, Heat Vision reports that Nicolas Cage won’t be playing the villain in Columbia Pictures’ The Green Hornet, which director Michel Gondry has started filming in Los Angeles.

Sources for the Blog say that the studio is on the hunt for a new actor to play the villain in the comic book adaptation. No scenes with Cage were shot for the movie.

Columbia is planning a December 17, 2010 release for the pic, which stars Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Jay Chou, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour and Tom Wilkinson.